The smuggling of live elephants, ivory and other elephant parts out of Myanmar and into neighbouring China and Thailand occurs in blatant contravention of national laws and CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

Chris Shepherd, Senior Programme Officer with TRAFFIC said the report confirmed a serious lack of law enforcement and a blatant disregard for international conventions and national laws in Myanmar and neighbouring states.

“Females and juvenile elephants are particularly targeted to supply the demand from the tourism industry in Thailand, where they are put to work in elephant trekking centres,” said Shepherd. “Our research found evidence of corruption allowing the illicit smuggling of ivory and elephants to take place.”

No cross-border trade of live elephants has been reported to CITES by either Myanmar or Thailand. Some traders questioned claimed elephants had disappeared from parts of Myanmar, owing to numbers captured for the live trade.

“Anecdotal reports of elephant disappearances, together with the large volume of ivory and elephant parts consistently observed for sale at markets over a period of several years suggests that trade poses a significant threat to the survival of Asian Elephants in Myanmar,” said Vincent Nijman, a co-author of the report.

TRAFFIC and WWF call on authorities in Myanmar to work closely with enforcement officers in neighbouring Thailand and China to address the illegal trade in live elephants and ivory.

“Both Thailand and China must do much more to increase enforcement and crack down on this insidious trade,” said Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF International’s Species Programme.

“Myanmar has the potential to become a major stronghold for Asian Elephants; it’s a pity that illegal capture and killing are pushing elephants towards extinction there,” said Ajay Desai, Co-Chair of the IUCN Asian Elephant Specialist Group, adding: “Neighboring countries need seriously to reconsider their policy on the use of captive elephants and also enforce laws to stop illegal trade in wildlife products.”

Both Thailand and Myanmar are also members of the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network, a regional network established to promote cross-border collaboration to tackle illegal wildlife trade. The findings are published today in Elephant and ivory trade in Myanmar (PDF, 1.4 MB)